Star Trek Discovery: The Bryan Fuller TV reboot

So mad I typoed her name lol

I did like that they brought out the actual wonky-rock Guardian though.

wasn’t the original rock like a detached observer rather than a moral arbiter?

(also my autocorrect tried to change “original” to “Orion gal” which felt a bit too context-aware for comfort)

wasn’t the original rock like a detached observer rather than a moral arbiter?

(also my autocorrect tried to change “original” to “Orion gal” which felt a bit too context-aware for comfort)

Where is the original rock from? Not knowing just left me with vibes of the Doctor tbh

not sure - but we rewatched the Guardians of Forever TOS season 1 episode (Joan Collins!) & it is def the rock on its own, minus CSI’s Jim Brass in a bowler hat. And you cant really pick where you go, you just sorta jump & hope for the best

yeah sorry was using rock & guardian interchangeably there

but this whole “ah! i was testing u to see if u are good now and deserve a 2nd chance” schtick felt weird to me vs my memories of those eps (there was a good Spock one in the animated series from memory - has it appeared since?)

but maybe I am denying the star treks the ability to change and undergo positive growth

That was a really good episode! Totally vintage TNG.

V good! tho: the burn was caused by some kid’s nightmare is v St Elsewhere snowglobe lmao

also i just realized Osira reminds me of Bad Janet and I cant unsee it

solid but too much touchy-feely if-we-hug-you-can-do-it, jeez. put tig in charge already

no idea how their enemy tracked them and arrived in time to catch them

disappointed that no plot points have hinged on grudge the cat's actions . . . yet

yeah dug the fever dream vibe, a few bits that I had to look the other way plot-wise but that’s always the case huh - agree that it’s a seemingly lame resolution of the burn biz but surely there’s a higher-order meta-twist on the way

did really appreciate that in the olden days we would have cut to credits after “there’s a life sign in the nebula thing!” but in 2020 we cram an action sequence and a couple more plot points in there - bezerko pacing is one of the things I do enjoy about this show

Doug Jones as actual Doug Jones! I was delighted when that happened!

yeah that was marvellous

That was a really good episode! Totally vintage TNG.

wish any of my devices could reboot as quickly as discovery

Michael channeling Kirk in multiple scenes!

I feel like I got a few twinges of “this isn’t trek-like” which I don’t get, as I’m not married to the franchise and all for variation. I’m just becoming an old curmudgeon, now. But as Akiva Goldsman-like as some of the emotional beats were, I never jumped off board. I care about this crew!

Also, Book rallying yet again and ejecting that guy when he threatened the cat was beautiful

Is Cronenberg a permanent addition? He weirdly has a lot of speaking time that they didn't need to give him.

I was also surprised he appeared again. His parts were always with the small handful of characters, so I assume they filmed them all in the same stretch

I can't get over how this season's big mystery came down to some Kelpian adult child's hissy fit (I'm an asshole but this is a fictional show who fucking cares)

I hate this fucking show and wish I was better at stopping shows I start watching

Forgive the thread spam, but I wanted to note that this show's 2020 season is nominated in the 2020 ILX TV poll:

ILX's Best Television of 2020 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends After January 29, 2021

If you like this show and you'd like to see it have a good showing in the poll (running in February) all you need to do is submit a ballot including it and your other favorites (3 minimum, 25 maximum, ranked by your favorite to least favorite) to forksclovetofu at gmail. It'll take five minutes; get to it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ4CkuDx5LE

rewatching season one and it's rather better than i recalled

Have rewatched first two seasons and part way through third but will now have to find other means to watch as Paramount+ have made the dick move of removing it from Netflix with immediate effect despite P+ or whatever it's called not going to be available internationally until March 2022 at the earliest.

i don't think anything past season one made it to free-to-air uk tv

I didn't realize that season 4 is upon us!

I think I've figured out why I have trouble comprehending this show. It changes the time structure structure of a Star Trek show in a bad way.

the old formula (TOS/TNG/VOY at least):
Cold open: Mundane Starfleet routine, then something mysterious happens (2-5 minutes)
opening credits
story that follows from the mystery, possibly with a b-plot as well

the new formula (DIS):
Mini adventure (10 minutes)
opening credits
Lore update: the state of starfleet, or a look at an alien planet, or a bit of character development (10-15 minutes)
then the main story starts

Two problems with this:
The "lore" portion FEELS like it's a first act, but it isn't. It doesn't lead into anything.

It takes too long to get to the main story. By the time it starts, the main story feels like a C-plot because there have been at least two threads started already, although those threads are usually never returned to.

I'm not saying that Star Trek needs to go back to the old formula -- it feels stale after awhile. Just that the new formula has those new problems.

That's not a Trek-specific thing -- in fact, I remember people complaining about how the first act for the Simpsons didn't relate to any of the other plots of the rest of the episodes, and that was probably 10 years ago.

I think the swerve in The Simpsons is humorous in how it goes against expectations -- although now that it's a standardized formula, the joke no longer works.

that Paramount move is infuriating - i was looking forward to watching this over the xmas holidays, was excellent braindead fare last year - now i can't see myself being bothered and I certainly don't need -another- fucking streaming service in my life

First ep of new season... I find it extremely irritating that its a jllion years in the future and ships getting hit - despite all the sheild tech - flail around, and explode in sparks internally. WHY.

I could make something up about shields and weapons being in an arms race but yeah it doesn't make sense.

lol for every complaint like this there are five about how why isn't trek like it used to be

i mean i hear you cluckin' but also there has to be some sort of danger conveyed, if ideally not demonstrated by weird flash pots

I've never understood 'shields' as a Star Trek concept tbh.

One of my favorite parts of the Expanse was space battles requiring people to pressure suit up because every bullet will just zip through the tin ships are made of.

if it weren't for radiation/gravitational anomalies/etc. starfleet vessels would just solve everything instantly

i do like to see them *try* to explain why they're helpless tho, and at least heisenberg compensators are old-school legit

star trek is optimistic; the expanse points out that all this shit is so difficult as to be almost pointless

Yeah, I don't mean it's better as a sci-fi trope, it's just fun to see bullets zip through one side of the hull and out the other with everyone going "oh shiiiiit"

Having recently watched TOS it’s now v amusing how Burnham is like Kirk turned up to 11 in terms of being the first to go on offworld missions for any and everything, the more ill advised the better

I do enjoy Disco but I dont approach it like Other Trek, to be sure.

Kind of want Saru to stay where he is, and have a fleshed out storyline on his world.

https://intl.startrek.com/news/star-trek-discovery-season-four-lands-on-paramount-pluto-tv-internationally time to find out what pluto is

And here I was thinking they landed on Goofy.

Thank you for this information stet

Look forward to renewing my acquaintance with this silly show

Pluto is cool. This show is cool. "Let's Fly" as the captain's catchphrase order is not cool at all.

we're four seasons in and i *want* to like this but 50 minutes of 'people grieve in different ways' is just terrible

and every time they reference burnham growing up on vulcan simply makes a joke of how everything she does is weepy emotional

at least that one guy (bryce?) got to suggest something?

make grudge the center of the show imo

oh no! my dead soulmate is going to blah blah blah reincarnate! but what if i can't measure up to them! oh no!

This was probably my favorite episode, largely because of how much it made me laugh -- sometimes intentionally, sometimes less so: the random flame jets on the bridge, fr'instance.

That said, yeah, I do wish that not every episode has to involve some galaxy- or identity-shifting inflection point.

Haha yes once again I have the gripe I had last week. When the ship was getting battered by those grav waves, why was there... like, literal rubble? All over the deck? The hell?

Losing gravity suddenly was a cool thing to happen and they dont do that much on shows like this so that was cool.

Burnham is becomign a freaking hypocrite. Last week she was being accused of taking too many risks and she got all huffy and defended it... then she goes and accuses book of the same thing!

But man, this anomaly better turn out to be some giant space alien/actual enemy because do not sit here and tell me this season is them going to war with Space, that is just ... NO..

mr veg has been joking about the rubble, like are they building with concrete in space?

also pyro budget must be sizeable, sparks & fireballs like the bloody wizard of oz

Just starting S2 and by god I will get through it this time but man I miss Sisko playing baseball with his idol and bridge crew string quartet shows. Grimdark is probably a bit extreme as a description but it's getting close.

Yeah stakes being pushed to such extremes means that all the side characters don't get fleshed out, in addition to the very shallow way the main characters are all overachieving Dunning Kruger idiots.